Yucatán

Yucatán is one of the 32 federal entities of Mexico, located on the Yucatan Peninsula; Merida serves as its capital. The state of Yucatán consists of 106 municipalities and large portions of rainforest, and it is home to many ruins from the Mayan civilization, which once inhabited the Yucatán peninsula. From the 16th century until 1697, the Yucatán was conquered by Spain, and it was the last native kingdom to be conquered by Spain during its conquest of the Americas. On 23 December 1823, after Mexico won its independence, Yucatán became a federal state of Mexico. On 16 March 1841, separatists declared the Republic of Yucatan in response to a political crisis in the rest of Mexico, but the republic rejoined Mexico seven years later. The state is now the safest in Mexico, and Merida was once rated "the city of peace" in 2011. In 2015, Yucatán had a population of 2,097,175 people.